The Arrangement of the Church Lectionary (1970)

Source: Liturgical Lectionaries of the Coptic Church, (ed.) Bishop Mettaous (Philopatir Print Centre, 2010): 26–33.

Arabic PDF
The first chapter of Fouad Naguib Youssef’s important book on the Liturgical Lectionaries of the Coptic Church (Arabic PDF) covers the complex interaction the Hebrew and Egyptian calendars within the liturgical year, and explains the Trinitarian theme of the annual cycle of readings. The three seasons of the Coptic agricultural calendar (sowing, harvesting, and flooding) each feature readings pertaining to a particular person of the Trinity and a particular part of the divine economy: in the sowing season, the Father is the sower who sows the seed of salvation by sending His Son to be born at the Feast of Nativity; in the harvesting season, this seed (the Son of God) sinks into the ground and rises at Pascha; in the flooding season, the Holy Spirit pours forth and irrigates the newly planted body of Christ, the Church. Explanatory footnotes have been added by the translator.

Chapter 1
The Arrangement of the Church Readings

Before we begin our study of the church readings, we must first consider the organisation of these readings in the church books dedicated to them: not only in the books we use today, but especially in the ancient manuscripts, so that we can trace their development through history. This study requires competence in various languages in their various dialogues and their different styles of writing in particular eras. If this is not possible, then at the least we ought to study the church books current among us now while also studying the church’s history.

1.1 The Principal Divisions of the Liturgical Calendar

The arrangement of the readings in the Coptic Church depends upon two kinds of calendar: the Coptic calendar and the Hebrew calendar. The Coptic calendar is the basis for the arrangement of church readings, however the Feast of the Resurrection follows the Hebrew calendar, in accordance with the canons of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, where it was determined that the churches of the world would celebrate the Lord’s resurrection on the Sunday following the Jewish Feast of Passover, following the custom observed in the churches of Alexandria and Rome. Accordingly, the date of the Feast of the Resurrection changes from year to year corresponding to the Jewish Passover.

The Coptic Calendar

The Coptic Calendar is the calendar of ancient Egypt, and remains the oldest known calendar in history. It first came into use in Pharaonic Egypt in the year 4241 BC according to the opinion of scholars and the consensus of historians, including their pioneer Herodotus. It continued to be the official calendar in Egypt until the era of Ismail Basha, who was influenced

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by the West and exchanged the Coptic calendar for the Gregorian calendar. The Egyptian calendar is a sidereal calendar,[1]taqwīm najmī, a calendar based on the stars rather than on the sun (solar) or moon (lunar). A sidereal year is the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the sun once when its position is determined using the fixed stars. As the author points out, the sidereal year is very slightly (roughly 20 minutes) longer than the solar year.” and there is a slight difference between the sidereal year and the solar year; the sidereal calendar is, from a scientific perspective, a more accurate foundation for the measurement of time.

The Egyptians divided the year into three parts, beginning with the flooding season when the North Star Sirius is at its brightest and most luminous, on the first day of Tout. They also divided the year into twelve months, each containing thirty days. After this, they added the Little Month which contains five days in a non-leap year. Every four years, one day is added to the Little Month. This day is added to the end of the third year so that the fourth, leap-year (a year divisible by four) can commence accurately from its beginning. This is more precise than the Gregorian calendar, where the extra day is added to the leap year at the end of February, that is, after two months have already passed.
 
The Hebrew Calendar

The Hebrew calendar is unique in that it incorporates both the lunar and solar calendars, since it uses lunar months but solar years. The difference between the lunar year an the solar year is 11 days, and therefore a lunar month is added to the Hebrew calendar every two or three years; a year is considered a leap year when it contains 13 lunar months. This addition only brings the year into full alignment with solar year after a revolution of 19 years, of which seven are leap years, meaning the addition of 7 lunar months [over the 19 year period]. It is the difference between the lunar and solar years (11 days each year) which makes up 7 full lunar months every 19 years, which is the period it takes for the difference to be realigned. There is much evidence for the fact that the Hebrews took their calendar from the Egyptian calendar,  because the solar calendar was unknown to the whole world apart from the Egyptians, and the Hebrew calendar is also linked to the Coptic calendar in several respects. It is possible that the Hebrews observed the Egyptian calendar until the time of the Babylonian captivity, after which it became difficult for them to observe solar months when

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the whole world followed a lunar calendar. One can determine what day of the lunar month it is simply by looking at the night sky, while the solar calendar which is hard to regulate, is necessary for the administration and organisation of the activities of an agricultural nation. For this reason, the Hebrew observed the solar year which they had taken from the Egyptians while also using lunar months.

The Liturgical Calendar

The Coptic liturgical calendar follows the Coptic year but, according to the decision of the Council of Nicaea, it links the date of the Feast of the Lord’s Resurrection to the Jewish Passover, which follows the Hebrew Calendar. In consequence, an important part of the Coptic liturgical calendar became linked to the Hebrew calendar, namely, the second season of the year which is tied to the Feast of the Resurrection,[2]i.e. the harvest season which begins after the Nativity and ends with Pentecost. See page 30–31 below. from the Saturday before Great Lent[3]sabt al-rifā‘ to the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (15 weeks or 107 days). Thus, this portion of the Coptic year which revolves around the Feast of the Resurrection changes its position within the Coptic calendar from year to year corresponding to the Jewish Passover as determined by the Hebrew calendar. In order to make it possible to determine the date of the Feast of the Resurrection, there is a long astronomical calculation known as the Abuqti calculation. This calculation was developed in the third century AD by the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy al-Farmawi[4]Baṭlīmūs al-Farmāwī, Farma being the Arabic name for the ancient city of Pelusium, which some ancient sources describe as Ptolemy’s birthplace.(derived from his birthplace of Farma which lay between Port Said and al-‘Arish) during the time of Pope Demetrius the Vinedresser, the 12th patriarch (189–232 AD). This calculation was attributed to the patriarch and thus became known as ḥisāb al-karma (“the calculation of the vine”).

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The Theme of the Readings in the Liturgical Year

The principal theme of the liturgical year is salvation; each year, through the readings, the Church presents us with “the acceptable year of the Lord”, a year of liberation and emancipation from slavery. St Luke quotes Isaiah the prophet, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty the downtrodden, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Lk 4:18–19; Is 61:1–2). This is the gospel which the Church presents at the beginning of the Coptic year, on the Feast of al-Nayrouz; it is the principal theme of the entire liturgical year, as is confirmed by the joyful hymns of praise that accompany the celebration of the year’s beginning.

In the Old Testament, the year of Jubilee — the fiftieth year — was a type of the year of the Lord. According to the law of Moses, in this year slaves were released and all captives set free and all debts forgiven; animals were granted rest; even the earth was allowed to rest from being farmed. Isaiah the prophet reveals that all of this was a type of the age of the Messiah, the age of grace, in which Christ would grant liberty to those held captive by sin and the Devil, grant pardon to all who were condemned, open the eyes of the blind so that all men might see the salvation of the Lord and enter into rest in Christ. For this reason the church, who lives this grace in her own age, proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord: she opens her arms at the beginning of her liturgical year and through the readings, preaches glad tidings to the poor, heals the brokenhearted, proclaims liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, sets free the downtrodden. Thus we see that the arrangement of the readings throughout the entire liturgical year are rest on this idea: the Lord opens His arms all year long to welcome all those who return to Him.
 

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The Theme of the Readings in the Liturgical Year

The principal theme of the liturgical year is salvation; each year, through the readings, the Church presents us with “the acceptable year of the Lord”, a year of liberation and emancipation from slavery. St Luke quotes Isaiah the prophet, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty the downtrodden, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Lk 4:18–19; Is 61:1–2). This is the gospel which the Church presents at the beginning of the Coptic year, on the Feast of al-Nayrouz; it is the principal theme of the entire liturgical year, as is confirmed by the joyful hymns of praise that accompany the celebration of the year’s beginning.

In the Old Testament, the year of Jubilee — the fiftieth year — was a type of the year of the Lord. According to the law of Moses, in this year slaves were released and all captives set free and all debts forgiven; animals were granted rest; even the earth was allowed to rest from being farmed. Isaiah the prophet reveals that all of this was a type of the age of the Messiah, the age of grace, in which Christ would grant liberty to those held captive by sin and the Devil, grant pardon to all who were condemned, open the eyes of the blind so that all men might see the salvation of the Lord and enter into rest in Christ. For this reason the church, who lives this grace in her own age, proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord: she opens her arms at the beginning of her liturgical year and through the readings, preaches glad tidings to the poor, heals the brokenhearted, proclaims liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, sets free the downtrodden. Thus we see that the arrangement of the readings throughout the entire liturgical year are rest on this idea: the Lord opens His arms all year long to welcome all those who return to Him.
 

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The Divisions of the Liturgical Year

The Coptic year is an agricultural year, and is organised and divided according to the different agricultural seasons. The Coptic year is divided into three periods: sowing (“the seeds, the herbs and the plants of the field”); then the harvest (“the air and the fruits”) and finally the flooding of the Nile (“the waters”). The church uses these same divisions in her liturgical calendar so that she might share in our daily life, transporting us from material realities to the life that is superior. The liturgical year is the year of salvation, and thus, the theme of the three parts of the year is the work of the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for the salvation of humanity. The Holy Trinity administers salvation to us through the mysteries of the divine economy:[5]al-tadbīr al-ilahī, lit. divine stewardship, planning or management. This term is typically used in Arabic to express the patristic notion of the “divine economy” (oikonomia). the mystery of the incarnation, which is the economy of the Father for the salvation of humanity; the mystery of redemption which is the work of the Son for the salvation of humanity, and the mystery of the Church where the Holy Spirit works to bring about the salvation of each person individually throughout time. The Holy Spirit conveys to us the love of God the Father in the economy of the Son’s incarnation, that we might inherit the adoption as sons of God. Likewise, He conveys to us the grace of the Only-Begotten Son through the working of His resurrection from the dead and His sitting at the Father’s right hand. All of this is through the fellowship and the gift of the Holy Spirit, through whom we attain fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The First Season: In the season of sowing the Church presents “the love of God the Father,” who arranged for our salvation through the mystery of the incarnation. Sowing is the work of the Father who sends His Son, the grain of wheat, into the world in order to unite with our bodies of dust in the mystery of the incarnation, according to the economy, for the sake of the salvation of humanity. In this season, the Church presents us with the parable of the sower as an introduction to the mystery of the divine incarnation; the season concludes with the birth of the Lord Christ. The first season of the liturgical year follows the Coptic calendar and consists of the first four months of the year.

 

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The Second Season: In the season of harvesting and gathering, the Church presents us in the readings with “the grace of the Only-Begotten Son.” The Son came to gather all things into one in His body, bringing about salvation and eternal redemption through the Cross. He is the firstfruits offered for the world through the resurrection from the dead and ascension into the heavens and the sitting at the right hand of the Father. The readings of this season present us with our fellowship with Christ in His struggle (the fasting period) and in His sufferings (Passion Week), and then in His resurrection and ascension into the heavens: “He raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). The second season of the liturgical year which is determined by the Feast of Passover does not follow the Coptic calendar but rather follows the Hebrew calendar, and therefore changes its date every year and sometimes conflicts with the Coptic calendar. Accordingly, there a flexible system has been put in place in the season preceding the second season as well as the season following it, to allow for the Feast of Passover to move within the Coptic year.

The Third Season: In the season of flooding (of the waters of the rivers), the Church presents us with “the gift and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit descends upon the Church and floods it with living water to effect the salvation of the human race, bringing to the generations, along with this living water, the blessings of the Son’s work of salvation, to fertilise spirits, according to the providence of the Father. The third season follows the Coptic calendar. The Holy Spirit works and bears witness throughout the Church, the Body of Christ. Through the mystery of the Church, souls partake of salvation and receive a living experience of the Kingdom of God within time, attaining the fruit which makes them worthy of eternal life at the end of days.

The general theme of the liturgical year is the salvation of the human race through the mysteries and economy of God: the mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of Redemption and the mystery of the Church. The liturgical seasons are equivalent and coincide with the agricultural year, and also differ from it, according to the following schedule:
 

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Daily Readings and Sunday Readings

Sunday is the Lord’s day, on which the Church celebrates the resurrection of the Lord from the dead.[6]On the Lord’s Day, see Fr Manqaryus Awadalla, The Lamp of the Holy Places 1.4 (click for link).” For this reason, the Church has set up a special program of readings for the Sundays which differs from the weekday readings. Sunday readings are collected in the first volume of the Yearly Katameros.

The Program of Weekday Readings

This program includes readings for every day throughout the Coptic year. If a day of the Coptic month falls on a Sunday, the rites and readings of that day follow a different program, i.e. the program of Sunday readings. The program of daily readings follows the Synaxarium: the theme of each day’s readings revolves round the occasions commemorated in the Synaxarium for that day, whether they be feasts of the Lord Christ, or our Lady the Virgin, or the angels, or the martyrs, apostles, patriarchs, ascetics and hermits, etc. There is a program for each kind of feast and commemoration. Accordingly, the Church has arranged 69 collections of readings to cover all these different themes throughout the Coptic year, known as the foundational readings.[7]al-qirā’āt al-āsāsiyya They are collected in the second volume of the Yearly Katameros.

 

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The Program of Sunday Readings

This is the primary program the Church uses to convey her yearly message. Some of the weekday readings contribute to the message of the yearly program in co-operation with the Sunday readings. The weekday readings which play a part in the yearly program are the readings for the seven Major Feasts of the Lord and the seven Minor Feasts of the Lord, in addition to the readings for the two Feasts of the Cross. Around the Feasts of the Lord, the Church has set up a yearly instructional program [of readings] which is the subject of this study.

The Church provides readings for four Sundays every month. It is worth noting that the readings for every two consecutive months comprise a complete spiritual, theological program over the course of eight Sundays. Thus, the Church divides its annual program between a number of smaller programs, each containing eight Sundays.

Readings for Fifth Sundays: The Church only provides readings for four Sundays each month, but there are some months which have five Sundays. A fifth Sunday will fall on either the 29th or 30th of a month. For this reason, the Church arranged a program for fifth Sundays: when a fifth Sunday falls on the 29th of the month, the Church sets the readings for the monthly commemorations of the feasts of the Annunciation, Nativity and Resurrection. This commemoration celebrates the divine economy of salvation in the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption. When a fifth Sunday falls on the 30th of the month, the Church presents the miracle of the feeding of the multitude amid readings about the mystery of the Church. Through the miracle of the feeding of the multitude, the Lord Christ declared to His disciples the mystery of the Holy Qurban, and the mystery of the Church gathered together around Christ. It is worth noting that the theme of the readings of the fifth Sunday (on the 29th or 30th of the month) is a reiteration of the general theme of the liturgical year, that is, salvation by means of the mysteries of the divine economy: the mysteries of the Incarnation, Redemption and the Church.

 

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Notes:

Notes:
↑1 taqwīm najmī, a calendar based on the stars rather than on the sun (solar) or moon (lunar). A sidereal year is the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the sun once when its position is determined using the fixed stars. As the author points out, the sidereal year is very slightly (roughly 20 minutes) longer than the solar year.”
↑2 i.e. the harvest season which begins after the Nativity and ends with Pentecost. See page 30–31 below.
↑3 sabt al-rifā‘
↑4 Baṭlīmūs al-Farmāwī, Farma being the Arabic name for the ancient city of Pelusium, which some ancient sources describe as Ptolemy’s birthplace.
↑5 al-tadbīr al-ilahī, lit. divine stewardship, planning or management. This term is typically used in Arabic to express the patristic notion of the “divine economy” (oikonomia).
↑6 On the Lord’s Day, see Fr Manqaryus Awadalla, The Lamp of the Holy Places 1.4 (click for link).”
↑7 al-qirā’āt al-āsāsiyya

How to cite this text (Chicago/Turabian):

Youssef, Fouad Naguib. A Systematic Study of the Liturgical Lectionaries of the Coptic Church [Dirāsa manhajiyya li-l-qirā’āt al-lītūrjiyya li-l-kanīsa al-Qibṭiyya], 26–33. Philopatir Print Centre, 2010. Translated by Samuel Kaldas in Archive of Contemporary Coptic Orthodox Theology. Sydney, NSW: St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College. https://accot.stcyrils.edu.au/fny-read1/.

(For more information, see Citation Guidelines)